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Tale of three Ships
Tale of three ships New attempt to introduce the Proximate Cause Pt 1 -1- Only a week ago Cmdr Xon received his transfer orders. Captain Hi called him into his office aboard the Dominator and handed him the order chip and said. “I am going to miss you.” On the bridge and while on duty he was his captain, but like everyone who had served aboard the Tigershark together and shared a deep bond of friendship. After the last mission of the Tigershark. They went their separate ways. Xon had taken his leave from the Navy to dedicate himself integrating the Nul civilization into the Union and continue his education to eventually become the leader of his people. However the Nul didn't need his help. The integration moved smoother than he could have dreamed about. There was none not even one report of any sort of hitches. The Seer of Narl Gatu was now the Nul representative. His life giving father was seen playing Eggs and Grubs with the Klack queen and attending Circus games on Spqr. On occasions he conducted guided tours for Union School classes. And sitting for many years in Nul history classes could wait for a few more decades. He returned and attended Command school. The day he graduated he received his new posting. The XO position aboard the most powerful ship in the known universe, the USS Dominator under Captain Har-Hi. This was just over a year ago. To receive transfer orders without expecting or requesting it was more than unusual. If his performance was not up to par, a captain might ask for his transfer, but Captain Hi was much more than just a commanding officer and would have told him. After the captain handed him the chip, the Dai made sure the door was closed and gave the giant a friendly hug. No Dai would ever do such a thing to anyone but his closest family. “Xon, I would have never accepted these transfer orders for any other reason for what they were made. They have been issued by the Admiral of the Fleet himself.” Xon still did not understand. Har-Hi then took a few steps back saluted the Nul and said.”Congratulations Captain Xon.” Xon recalled every second of that moment and was glad only Har-Hi was present.”Cap..cap..captain?” Har-Hi grinned.”None of the Olafson Gang will ever be regular officers. We are firmly at the focus of the Immortals. Under normal circumstances I would never command the Dom.” Xon agreed.”You are right of course. Does it say what ship?” “No, but given the person ordering it and the place you need to go, I doubt it will be a destroyer or something like that. You are to report to Admiral McElligott waiting for you at the CSDB on Ross Torus” – A Lieutenant came from the flight deck of the USS Spreenax. We just dropped out of Quasi, Sir and linked into Ross-Trav. We are cleared for docking and should arrive in about 14 minutes.” “Thank you, Lieutenant Brown.” The Spreenax was part of the 212th Fleet (The Dominator designated a Fleet Carrier was the mobile Fleet Base of the 212th ) and one of about 12,000 Seenian destroyer sized ships, the Fleet had adapted and integrated. It followed the general Seenian design scheme based on an elongated disc. He gathered his belongings checked his uniform, his eye caught the gold on his sleeves. He had to admit to himself that these golden rings made him as proud as the day he emerged from the ashes of Narl Gatu (he completed the cleansing bath only a few year ago) Then he went sideways through the door. Seenian doors were not wide enough for a Nul to pass through the normal way and waited by the main airlock. He called for a field screen and watched the final approach. What was originally planned to be a quiet out of the way munitions depot and service dock had turned into an industrial complex of tremendous importance and one of the Unions busiest system. Easily equal to Blue Moon, only this was for the Fleet alone. In times of War the Ross Torus could turn out 20 battle ships a day,At its core was the Battle ship assembly line. 5000 km long. With Ultronit Armor foundries, gigantic robots assembling frames, at one end and and final detailing at the other. One part of the assembly line the so called Red Area, the ships received the Translocator canons. The place was guarded by Ultra Marines who did not ask and always shoot. He had been here once before, during an Avatar and guided tour by McElligott and Admiral P' Tchak, the Commandant of Ross Torus. This mind blowing scale of the battleship assembly line was only a small part of the Ross Torus, Enroes assembly line was just as big and both lines were only part of the entire ship yards. Translocator cannons weren't the secret of the Unions success, it was places like this. Terran megalomania, Klack unprecedented talent to organize and delegate the work flow to the smallest detail,Bellebee managers making sure nothing is overlooked, neglected or forgotten. Oromal keeping storage and depots. The Unions unexplainable ability to combine the natural talents of a myriad of societies without really planning it or forcing it that was the real reason. As a Union citizen it was a source of pride,but as the future leader of his people it was the validation of his and his father's decision to add the Nul to this galactic civilization. The Seenian built destroyer slipped inside the one of the Torus Ports, a full sized Class A space port. Ross had 24 of them. Not to mention external docking for Tiny Tims and a mooring point for the Dom. Once inside, there was no real difference to a planet surface, except that the horizon kept curving up and you could see cities, forests and lakes instead of clouds the sky. Even though billions of civilians lived here, this was not a civilian place and security was tight. Two marines not only checked his CITI but verified all data and the authenticity of the CITI. They then repeated the process checking the MITI . Only then did they deactivate the force field barrier to let him pass. Twenty minutes later, after a ride on the Ring Train he arrived at CSDB. The offices of the Capital Ship Development Bureau were located in a nine story building of glass and slanted walls, surrounded by trimmed grass and shrubbery. The scale model of a Vision Class dreadnought circling a floating sphere displaying the Union Fleet logo and the letters CSDB. A sign informed him that the building was equipped with hard light doors, allowing anyone to simply phase through the projected insubstantial doors (opaque to sound) and warned him that anyone with a security clearance below blue-green would be denied access. The door projection let him pass without a problem while the brass statue of Ult admiral Stucks holding a set of blue prints returned its head to its usual position. The brass statue of Stucks, widely regarded as the father of the Uni design doctrine, was most likely an armed security robot. Behind the door and the statue was a wide lobby with floor to ceiling windows. Dark marble based showcases in regular intervals along the window side of the building displayed intricate models of Battleship models. Towards the center of this quiet room a monolithic desk of marble and glass. A huge CSDB logo and the Union flag were indirectly illuminated, by blue light suspended from a wall behind the desk matching the overall design of the lobby. While most Nul had difficulties to differentiate male from female humans, the left one was a blonde female who instantly reminded him of Erica and Shea. The right one had long black hair and wore a traditional Dai face veil, before her bright red face and up to her piercing yellow eyes. Both females wore civilian attire and it was the Dai woman who addressed him. “Good afternoon, Captain Xon. Welcome to CSDB,Ross Torus.” He greeted them and while he noticed the blonde manipulated her face muscles to create what the humans called a smile, he focused on the Dai woman. “Captain Xon, please identify yourself according to Blue-Blue-Green to the system. It is a necessary formality to access CSDB facilities beyond this lobby.” He did to her and the systems satisfaction. “The Admiral and the others are waiting for you on sub level nineteen. The IBT over there will get you there.” ;; Instead of up the IST capsule carried him below. A Kilonian Lieutenant waited for him and led him to a conference or meeting room. Admiral McElligott, a human Commodore an Ship was here, the human female shaped X101 body was the mobile ego center of the Tigershark sentient Computronic. The Computronic was not only sentient, she was part of the Olafson Gang an his friend. The three other officers and a civilian were strangers to him. McElligott took his pipe from between his teeth.”Good to see you, your majesty, please be seated so we can started. I know you and Commander Ship have much to catch up to, but we have a lot of ground to cover, before she arrives.” “It is an honor to see you again, Sir. May I point out that I am here as Union Officer, my civilian position means little.” McElligott smiled,”Of course Captain Xon,” The civilian said:”What is this majesty business anyway?” Ship said.”You have the rare honor to be in the presence, of the First Gray Born to the the Allruler and living will of all that is Nul supreme sovereign King Xyr the XXIst; Prince Xon the future king of the Nul.” The civilian paled .”I am terribly sorry, your Majesty. I meant no disrespect. It is utterly amazing that a figure of such importance serves the Union Navy s mere Captain. This must be unprecedented. !” Xon rose to all his imposing height.”Sir, I place more importance to the fact that I am a Union citizen than a Nul and to be chosen to become a Captain exceeds any value I place in titles by magnitudes. There is nothing mere about this honor.” “Forgive Dr. Foster, Captain Xon.” McElligott said. Then addressing anyone.”Unprecedented perhaps not. On the ship he used to serve, it was more or less the norm.” The civilian identified as Dr. Foster had shrunk as far as he could in his seat. The still standing Nul to him was not only imposing, but outright frightening.”I am terribly sorry for my choice of words.” One of the officers, a Pan Saran judging by his polished chest armor said.”I am cleared Blue-Blue-Blue and so is everyone in this room. I never heard of any ship were anything like this is the norm. I know we are on a schedule with the business at hand, but frankly I am intrigued.” The Commodore agreed.”I could not be prouder to be an officer hearing Captain Xon's reply. Sir how could this be the norm of anything?” “To tell you the details would require you to be cleared for Blue-Blue-Red. However since I didn't think before I blurted my comment into the room; I can tell you Xon shared his first posting with Princes, Princesses, leaders of entire civilizations, kings, the daughter of a defacto emperor and last but not least a being that even the Narth Supreme calls a God. If you want to hear more I gladly tell you once you have obtained the necessary clearance.” He pounded the table with his flat hand.”Let's get back to the business at hand.” All present, except Ship and Xon were more than shocked by McElligott's response, but they refrained from asking questions. “Ten years ago, the Assembly asked Fleet Command to develop the next generation of Battleships. This request was made after the Hive of Minds declared the United Stars is now officially a TL 9 civilization. The call to ring in a new era in Fleet design was approved and a significant budget for this purpose was approved and the CSDB was tasked to explore the way we are to accomplish that. Three camps formed around three different approaches.” He gestured to the assembled beings.”Before I go further. I like you to introduce yourself. Something we neglected at the begin of this meeting.” The civilian started. “I am Harold Foster, member of the Hive of Minds. I am a Xeno tech expert and considered one of the leading authorities in Seenian technology. I was the project lead of the Karmat and Lyrec refit program. Together with Lt. Cmdr Suit and Master Servant a sentient Seenian robot we managed to greatly increase our understanding of Seenian tech.” “I am Commodore Archibald Bull, lead of the CSDB.” “What you see before you is the mobile Ego remote of me, Commander Ship. I am a sentient Computronic. I am here to assist Mothermachine and SII Biotronics to finalize the activation of a new system.” The Pan Saran stood and said in crisp manner.” Captain Petrus Ovid, former XO of the USS Stoker.” The tall Attikan next to him also stood.”Captain Selec, former XO of the USS Tormentor.” The third officer remained seated.”Admiral Heinrich Donnerwetter, in charge of Fleet Engineering Division.” McElligott thanked them and while he begun to prepare his pipe he said.”Of the many ideas and proposals three possibilities peculated to the top. And as I mentioned three camps formed about each.”He lost his momentum as some tobacco spilled on the table. While he used swiping motions to gather the crumbs into a small pile, he realized he still needed to finish his sermon. With an annoyed swipe he brushed the tobacco of the table and onto the floor. “Sorry about that. Now where was I?” “The three camps” offered Commodore Bull. “Of course. One group, the Seenian Camp as we call it proposed to use all the knowledge we have gathered on Seenian tech. Dr. Foster represents this idea.” He nodded to the civilian. Dr. Foster said. “Ever since the Eternal Warrior returned with the Devi, we gathered and compiled every bit of hardware,artifact and information on that advanced civilization. We analyzed every bit of data we could find in the archives of the Saresii. We refitted the Devi and learned much about Seenian technical approaches. This body of knowledge exponentially increased since we received the Dom and all the Lyrec Battleships. We basically took these ships apart. Combined it with Union tech and put it back together. Not to mention the many thousand smaller ships. We are in possession of two Seenian depots that had been sealed until recently. The decision was made to open them after the Ancient Gates had been activated with the full blessing of those who initially wanted to keep them sealed. The second is filled with many more Lyrec ships , hulls, parts and we believe the supplies to complete a second Karmat. A sentient piece of Seenian technology assisted us with understanding much and more so with guidance to conduct safe research. We also have the full cooperation of a robot called the Master Servant. The machine leads a workforce of Seenian engineering robots. To summarize the our proposal , we are still far away to reach the same level as the Seenians, but we are on the right track. So if we use what we inherited, change or adapt our designs to follow this lead, we have fulfilled what the Union asked us. We propose to gradually replace all our Battleships and subsequent all our Mil Tech with Seenian design as basis and unravel the rest till we can create on the same level. We do not invent but retro engineer what is already there and we know it works.” He sat down. McElligott had used the time to get his pipe going.”Very sound reasoning. What speaks for it he mentioned. It is a very logical approach, what speaks against it, is the fact that we use ships and tech we do not fully understand. Ships we can not completely repair or service. Even if we had ten Seenian depots filled to the brim with ready to use tech, it is not enough to replace what we have and not enough for what we need. So we fill the rest with our copies but imperfect copies they are. Because for every solution and every system we can't copy due to our lack of understanding, we must bridge the gap with our tech. It might work and it appears to work with the Seenian ships we use. I am not talking about the Devi. She has more mysteries and secrets than the galaxy itself, none of the other Lyrecs compare. But she serves as a reinforcement of my opinion. In the 1500 years we service her, we could not really restore her alien engines or unravel the purpose of many strange systems such as the humming cubes that fill an entire deck. If Stahl or Centron know they haven't told us. However this is my opinion and as I said the Lyrecs are a good indicator that it does work. So CSDB authorized Dr. Foster and his team to built a battleship based on Seenian tech from scratch. The goal was to create a ship, no larger than 10,000 meters. It must be able to make planet fall; could only contain systems we can repair or replace and if we decide it to be our new core design it had to be reproduce-able in as many copies we need.” The Seenian camp has produced that prototype: The USS Seenia.” He looked at the Attikan. “You served five years as the XO of the Tormentor, this is why you have been promoted to captain. We commission you to be the CO of the USS Seenia. Do you accept your commission?” The Attikan bolted into attention and saluted.”Yes,Sir.” Everyone stood and saluted the new captain and congratulated the stripped Attikan. A mysterious Golden Guard in Union Uniform and Petty Officer rank on his sleeve followed by an S-14 robot in in military service configuration entered the room after the Immortal Admiral called for refreshments. The Golden Guard asked Xon.”What would you like,Sir. We do have fresh, natural sourced Lula available.” “I prefer milk, bovine sourced and cold.” “Very well, Sir.” To everyone's surprise Ship ordered Coffee. Xon explained to the Pan Saran.”Ship received the Olfactory upgrade the same day as Circuit did and she does everything our Captain did.” The Pan Saran looked puzzled.”Our captain? “Ship and I served under the same Captain.” “What kind of ship had a Nul prince and a coffee drinking Computronic?” “The best, Sir” The Golden Guard served the milk.”There you go Sir.” “Sobody smiles.” Xon used the old Golden way to express thanks and satisfaction.” The Golden Guard bowed.”Sobody smiles, indeed.” After everybody was served McElligott gave Donnerwetter a nod indicating his turn. The Admiral tried to emulate the Eternal Warrior in looks and style, with little success. While he had the same high and tight buzz cut. His physique and facial features lacked everything what defined Stahl's looks. His face was round and his body was just a hint on the chubby side. Not fat or overweight, no but a few kilos more than a man of his height should have. He was however quite competent in his field and rose from the ranks, serving as engineer and Chief Engineer on battleships. Donnerwetter acknowledged his cue by clearing his throat,then he said.”I am the voice of the second camp. It became known as the Uni Design 2.0 . My main arguments against the Seenian approach were already pointed out by the Admiral of the Fleet. The main reason we implemented Uniform design was to stream line and simplify maintenance, logistics and repairs. Before this we had Terran battle ships, Ult and Saran ships and every manufacturer and ship builder designed and built their own version. Every ship type needed different parts and required different munitions. Do you know we lost battles not because we didn't have enough ships or crews but because they could not use the munitions we had. There were cases known with warehouses full of Shiprocs and a fleet of Saran Battleship urgently needing ammunition, the Fleet was defeated because the Shiprocs did not fit their launch tubes. Servicing the Devi had been a nightmare for centuries. Servicing the new Seenian giants is not much easier. Technicians know where Power coupling 66A3 is in every Union Battleship, no matter the Class or the size or the year. By the Uniform Design Doctrine it is always in the same section, uses the same color coded connectors and is removed by the same tools. In a ship yard there is time to consult a tech or expert AI to figure out what part of the ship does the same thing, but in Battle when you need to replace that coupling wearing a protective suit , maybe in Zero gravity or while the ship is tossed and turned due to weapon impacts you don't have the time. I can, and that is no boast find and replace the 66A3 in every Uni design battleship in under 5 minutes, with one arm tied to my back and blindfolded.” He smiled. “It is to this day the test any Engineering cadet must complete in under 15 minutes, handicapped in some way, blindfolded or under simulated emergency conditions.” He pointed to the old Admiral. “Few know it, but he can too.” McElligott could not stop the fine proud glint in his eyes as Donnerwetter mentioned the result of a bet he made with Stahl. Donnerwetter went on.”66A3 is just one of millions of such examples. All our tools, expert AIs , repair robots, even Nanites are designed with the UDD in mind. That includes of course the training of engineers and the content of manuals. We can't have an engineer like Captain Circuit on every ship, who can fix a Energy Tab chandelier with a tooth pick and some Stick and glue.” Ship interrupted:” It was not a tooth pick, but a hairpin from our Captain and Nanite foam.” McElligott choked on the tea he was just sipping and Donnerwetter made big eyes.”He really did that? I thought he was making a joke in his report?” McElligott wiped his nose.”He did, but if we start telling anecdotes about the Tigershark we sit here in a year. Not that I would mind but that is not why we are here for.” Donnerwetter shook his head.”Son of a gun,he really did that. Before Ship could correct him, that Circuit was neither a son nor related to any sort of weapon, McElligott stopped her and urged Donnerwetter to continue. “What I meant to say with this example, is that we must have systems that can be repaired and serviced by all engineers, using the same tools and parts. Uniform design doesn't mean shape. Our smallest courier ship to the biggest Beach head transporters;from Wolfcrafts over D20 to Vision Class arsenal ships use the same fasteners, the same power grid lay out, the same color coding and can be services by the same five tools. New systems, new ships are all designed around that base. Switching to something new, alien and different will once again create two material streams,new manuals. It will take centuries before we changed our hardware to new standards. This is why the design team of our group, kept the Uni Design Doctrine and took all the reports Nelson II collected on Engineering problems and design improvements had a few Bellebees work out a base line and went from there.” McElligott addressed the Pan Saran.” Captain Ovid, the USS Strucks is the result of that. And we want you to be her Captain, do you accept the commission?” The Pan Saran accepted was congratulated. McElligott then pointed to Commodore Bull. “Archibald and I are the voices of the third camp. We called our project Big Fish.” He pointed his pipe towards the Commodore.”Your turn.” The Commodore got up.”The Admiral initiated Project Fish many centuries ago. Central to this project was a new type of ship. While in theory it was to be built with the UDD in mind, only about 10% of the ships design followed it, because almost everything in this ship did not exist before, as far as we know it no Seenian concepts existed. Almost everything was invented and developed for that ship. It took centuries to built it. One reason was the the great secrecy and the other was the need to develop new production methods to turn never before realized concepts into parts and systems. In 5020 the ship was ready and given to the most unusual crew our combined civilizations ever assembled and I think it is safe to say it will never be repeated. This crew took the most advanced ship we could built and customized it, altered it and improved on it, throwing pretty much everything that was left of UDD out the window. But Admiral McElligott saw in this ship the seed for our next era of ships and initiated said Project Big Fish, building a battleship based on the USS Tigershark and keeping its base design philosophy as base line, take the best of what all our combined civilizations have to offer and throw any other rule of limitation out the same window. McElligott never liked to put our eggs into one basket. He decried the Union's reliance on basically two weapon systems. The Translocator and the Loki torpedo. Yes we greatly improved on the original concept, but the base function is the same. There are good chances now, that we are indeed the biggest kid in our neighborhood. But the door has been opened to the Universe and it is simply foolish to assume we are the most advanced and biggest kid out there. The arguments are the same as those against the Seenian route, plus our approach is by far the costliest. The Tigershark, her development and her three upgrades cost us as much as an entire battle group but the investment had been returned a thousandfold. Now the new ship didn't need to be built with the same level of secrecy or had to be developed over centuries, but she is still the most expensive battle ship we ever built and ninety percent of her systems are classified Blue-Blue-Red.” McElligott thanked Commodore Bull and said to the Nul.”Captain Xon, the USS Proximate Cause is the result of our efforts. We offer you the Commission to be her CO. Do you accept?” – Category:Fragments Category:Stories and Tales